


The Ties that Bind

by Dracavia



Series: The Green Blanket [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loki Does What He Wants, M/M, Past Loki/Original Male Character, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Stark Does What He Wants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 21:47:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4035721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dracavia/pseuds/Dracavia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark is sure it was Loki that saw him through the night before Pepper's funeral, even if he's talking up the uncertainty with the team. That's because he knows he owes Loki a debt for helping pull him back together and he really doesn't want to hear Steve's lecture about being compromised. Fortunately for him, when Loki decides to call in that debt it doesn't actually involve anything he finds morally troubling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ties that Bind

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks go to Kyla and Corcalamus for their reassurances that this is a worthy sequel to All That We Love Deeply, and that my efforts to improve my writing skills aren't for naught. Thanks also go to my sister, Saya, for stepping in and doing the copy-edit for me unplanned when poor Kyla's PC imploded and took her edits with it. Any remaining errors are all mine, because I can't help fiddling with things even after I get them back from beta.  
> The next story in this series is done as well and just back from Saya. I'll probably have it formatted and posted up about this time next week. :) I'm not sure when the next one will be after that, but I currently have ideas for two more stories in this series after these. So make sure to subscribe to the series if you want to be notified when they're up.

_"But if there's love, dear... those are the ties that bind, and you'll have a family in your heart, forever." -Mrs. Doubtfire_

~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony looked at the people around him at the table. It seemed a shame to break-up this little slice of domesticity, but if he didn't say something soon, he wasn't going to say anything at all, and they'd all experienced things recently that made the point very clear that they were stronger, better and safer as a team. Keeping this sort of secret would do some serious damage to that if it ever came out, and knowing what his luck had been like in recent years, it would come out eventually.

"So..." It was the first word Tony had spoken since sitting down that didn't have something to do with passing the coffee or food, and suddenly everyone's eyes were upon him. No pressure then. "Jarvis found some sensor anomalies from two nights ago," he began. Maybe he should have had this talk one-on-one, rather than over breakfast, their stares were starting to make him feel like he was at an inquest. Too late now.

Bruce bit first, asking, "What kind of anomalies?"

"Well, that's the thing... Apparently there was some severe localised energy interference created, but Jarvis didn't notice it at the time because he was being fed a copy of the previous night's sensor readings. The problem only came to light when J was doing a review and realised his own log of updates didn't match the raw data in the sensor logs."

That revelation got more than a few troubled frowns.

"You're saying someone hacked Jarvis?" Clint gave the ceiling a wary look.

There had been more than a little uncertainty over Jarvis' omnipresence when the others had all started moving in post Hydra debacle. Tony had been hoping they were past that by now, but he could see where this might unsettle the warier sect.

Jarvis apparently decided to defend himself, because that was the moment he chose to join the conversation. "My systems remain untampered with. I spent 17.65 hours yesterday doing a full systems diagnostic of both myself and the entire Avengers suite to ensure as such. A more accurate description of what transpired would be to see myself as the guard at a security monitor, and my monitor's feed was looped."

"That's still troubling. I didn't know outside access between you and the sensors was possible." Natasha sounded irritated with herself at the possible oversight.

"It is not. It is a non-networked hard-line connection... It would have had to be done within the premises."

All eyes turned to Natasha and Bruce now, they were the only members of their group besides Tony capable of such work.

"It wasn't them," Tony said, breaking the tableau.

"You know who it was?" Steve frowned, clearly getting irritated with the way Tony was drawing this out.

"Not exactly... The interference was extremely localised."

"How localised?"

"My suite. And the thing is, Jarvis doesn't show anyone entering or leaving my rooms all night on the unaffected sensors outside them..."

"But?"

Tony was pretty sure Steve wanted to reach over and shake him right about now, to see if the answers would just fall loose.

"Keep in mind I had just bottomed out a bottle of Jim Beam when this happened, but, I had a visitor." Yep, there they were, the 'Judging-Eyes'.

"You had a visitor who could by-pass our security without setting off any alarms, or leaving any proof they were here and you're only just telling us _now_?!"

"One, at the time I thought they were an alcohol induced dream. Two, even when I woke in the morning, I didn't have any data to prove they'd been here." A small lie, they didn't need to know about the blanket and the dirty window. "Three, I was more than a bit preoccupied yesterday, and didn't remember to ask Jarvis for the results of his diagnostics until this morning."

That last one took the wind right out of Steve's indignant sails, almost visibly deflating as the righteous anger left him. "Alright, point made... Well, who was it then?"

"That's the thing. They had some sort of tech that let them change not just the way their face looked, but their whole body."

That got everyone focused again. "They changed in front of you?"

Natasha was the one most familiar with that kind of tech, so Tony was hardly surprised she'd chosen to take the lead now.

"Yeah, five times. Two women, four men, all of differing builds as well, and the only thing that signalled a change was a shimmer of gold light during the switch."

"I've never seen a matrix that advanced."

"I have," Thor said quietly, and there was something rather subdued about him now. "Asgardian sorcery is capable of such a feat. I saw both mother and Loki perform such magics on many occasions."

"Well we already knew there were some Aesir crooks still in the wind that need collecting. Lorelai was hardly the only one," Clint reminded them.

"Indeed. I will return to Asgard after our meal to find out what criminals remain free, whom have the ability to work such magics," Thor offered and received general agreement.

That settled, Steve took the lead again. "In the meantime, what did their faces look like, and more importantly, what did they want? That might help us narrow it down as well."

Tony cleared his throat uncomfortably. This was where the shit really might hit the fan. "Four of them were unfamiliar. A pale skinned, dark haired woman, a man that could have been her brother, a man best described as a cross between you two," Tony gestured between Steve and Thor, "and a guy that reminded me of Rhodey in our MIT days. I could do the sketch-artist thing with Jarvis if you think it'll actually help."

"It might be worth a shot. Now," Steve looked at him more shrewdly, "you implied two of the faces were familiar?"

"The first one was Pepper, at the height of health. That's what made me think I was dreaming." Tony paused to let that sink in. "Whoever they were, they were unaware of her passing and they were trying to impersonate her. All their plans seemed to get rearranged when they realised their mistake, and they almost left. I stopped them though."

"Tony..."

"I miss her, Steve. Can you blame me for trying to hold onto the dream?"

"No, I don't suppose I can... The other face?" Steve asked, hoping to move away from the fresh pain still lacing Tony's voice.

"Loki."

A stunned silence followed that revelation. It was Thor who eventually broke it, sounding almost as pained as Tony had.

"My brother is dead, Tony Stark."

"What if he isn't?" Natasha couldn't help asking. "You said yourself he had the ability to perform these kinds of illusions."

"His death was no illusion, I watched and held him from the time the sword ran him through until he took his last breath."

"What if it wasn't an illusion, but he didn't die either? Scans after the Battle of New York showed the Other Guy broke a number of his bones, but it only took him an hour to heal enough to climb up out of his crater. What if he was in a coma, and healed enough to wake after you left?" Bruce had to ask.

Thor looked stricken at the idea of having left Loki, alive but critically injured, alone on Svartalfheim. Once the shock of the idea wore off, however, Thor shook his head. "No, the guards found our skiff and his body. His remains were consigned to the stars."

"Could he have faked a body?"

"His clones were illusions, insubstantial to the touch."

"Yeah, but I saw him change one thing into another when he had the whammy on me," Clint interrupted. "A chair into a lounger, water into Meade, that sort of Harry Potter transfiguration type thing. For a body he'd just need to turn sand into a reasonable doll of himself. Unless you did an autopsy?"

"His cause of death was quite apparent. This idea seems strange and overly complex... but my brother was fond of such ideas," Thor conceded. "Perhaps there is a small possibility..."

"We won't rule it out then." All eyes turned back to Tony then as Steve asked, "Did it seem to you like it was Loki?"

"I'm not sure," Tony said, again a half-truth. Did he think it was really Loki? Yeah, probably. The last transformation was different from the rest, and the story Loki told him about his family... Tony just didn't feel like it could have been faked. But could he say with 100% certainty it wasn't some skilled actor wanting to convince him they were Loki, possibly with some insider knowledge? No. That Amora Thor had mentioned seemed like a possible candidate for pulling off such a charade, and he'd been compromised on so many levels, his judgement couldn't help but be called into question.

The more damning question, really, was did he _want_ it to be Loki? And the answer to that was an unwavering ' _Yes_ '. The comfort he'd gleaned from that night came from what had felt like a real connection, a mutual understanding of grief and pain. If it hadn't been Loki, it cheapened the moment, and right now Tony _needed_ it to be real.

Tony came back to himself to realise everyone was staring at him concernedly. Clearly he'd paused too long, lost in his thoughts. He cleared his throat to break the silence and continued.

"I can't be sure, but he was cocky, arrogant and demanding... but he was also understanding, sympathetic and..."

"Tony?" Steve prompted when he trailed off.

"Almost kind," Tony finished, seemingly at a loss.

Clint snorted at that. "Well, we know it wasn't him then."

"You would do well to hold your tongue on matters you do not fully understand."

Thor's sharp rebuke caught Clint off guard, startling him into an apology. "Hey, sorry big guy. It's just, you have to admit that hardly sounds like him."

"Your experience of my brother is significantly limited. When we were children, he was never a cruel boy. Reserved, self-possessed, not particularly tolerant of fools certainly – of which he was often certain I was one." Thor smiled with a wistful sadness as he thought back to some fond memory. "His spiteful side came later, and even then he was not without empathy. He lacked sympathy for those he could not relate to, likely he could justify the losses he caused your world, but there was kindness still for those whom he found in some way a kindred spirit, particularly children.

There was quiet for a time as they all absorbed Thor's words. It was Bruce that finally asked the question they were all thinking.

"What changed him?"

From Thor's furrowed brow it was clear it was a matter he'd already given much thought to. "Living in my shadow played some part, certainly, but I cannot think it sufficient cause on its own." Thor's gaze grew distant as he mulled over some memory.

"When we were no longer children, but not yet quite grown men, Loki left Asgard to wander and study. He said he wished to learn the secrets of the universe for himself. When he returned with father much time later, he was... different. Harder, more jaded, unwilling to make new friends. He preferred to lock himself away with his books than join in our merriment.

"He refused to speak to me of his time away, and it was not until it was too late – the events of the Bifrost – that I realised a chasm had grown between us without my notice. Whatever happened while he was away, it damaged him, though he hid it well beneath his façades. They could not stand to the revelations of his birth however, built as they were on crumbling foundations. What remained of the brother I knew was gone, but an echo of what he once was, replaced by a vicious creature, serving only his own desires. With the advantage of hindsight, those missing years, I think..."

Tony felt his heart in his throat, his breath stuck in his lungs, suspended along with Thor's words, waiting for release.

"His last day, he implored upon me that my love for Jane was foolish, that it could only do me more harm than good. The words did not sound or feel cruel, as perhaps he intended, for they were far too heartfelt. I believe that in his time away he must have experienced some great loss that marked him irrevocably."

Tony felt his heart stutter a beat in his chest, and then suddenly he was able to take air into his lungs once more. It _had_ been Loki. Surely if he hadn't told Thor, whom he had once been so close to, than the only other still alive that might know the truth was Odin himself. He couldn't see the one-eyed old despot – none of Thor's stories of his father had endeared him to Tony, not even the ones he was sure were meant to, and with what he knew now he was sure he'd hate the man on sight – posing as his wayward son and revealing such an unflattering story.

Part of Tony shouted at him that he should speak up, tell the others that yes, they most certainly had a trickster god running loose on Earth. That would most likely mean telling some of what he'd learned though, to explain why he was suddenly more confident than he was five minutes ago. He couldn't do it, it was too much of a betrayal. He'd just have to work the Loki angle on his own.

When Steve's voice brought him back to himself, Tony realised his expression must have betrayed something, because Natasha was looking at him shrewdly. None of the others seemed to have noticed though, all eyes on Steve. Tony gave her a wan smile and turned his own gaze upon their earnest captain.

"Right, for now we'll work both the Amora and the Loki angles," he told them. "It can't hurt to be too careful. I'll contact Sam to brief him and see if anything unusual has gone down his way. Natasha, you liaise with the remains of SHEILD via Hill. They may be small now, but they still seem to have an ear to the ground. Tony..."

"I know, I'll give Rhodey a call. Let him know to keep his eyes peeled on the west coast."

"And Thor..."

"I will see what word Asgard has had of Amora... and Loki," he added reluctantly.

With the sombre mood that had gripped the table, they finished their meal with minimal conversation, for which Tony was thankful. He was sure he'd be unable to carry on a conversation right now without giving away how much was on his mind.

When they finished, as the only two without assignments, Clint and Bruce moved to clean-up. Certain his presence wouldn't be needed, Tony made a bee-line for his suite to get the call to Rhodey over with. It would just be going on 7 in California, but Tony knew his friend would be up already, even if he had only arrived back at Edwards Air Force base late the night before.

Rhodey picked up on the second ring. "Man, I haven't even had my coffee yet," was how he answered.

Tony smiled wryly. "Liar, you're on your second by now."

"And what if I had actually slept in?" Rhodey's expression softened at Tony's dubious look. They knew each other damn well by this point in their lives, and the day James Rhodes slept in when a critical illness or injury wasn't involved was the day Tony renounced technology and took up the life of a reclusive hermit, and he said as much.

Rhodey chuckled wryly. "Alright, point," he conceded, then looked at Tony concernedly. "How are you doing?"

"I'm grieving, not terminal," Tony retorted. He appreciated his friends' concern, really he did, but if they kept giving him the sad puppy eyes for more than a few more days, he was going to blow something up just to make them exasperated. "Besides, that's not why I called."

That got a frown and Tony gave him the cliff notes version of the morning's discussion. Even with leaving some of the details out, Rhodey still picked up on what Tony was hiding.

"You know who it is."

"I already told you I don't."

"No, you told the others you don't, and maybe you weren't certain when you went in, but you know now."

"I have suspicions, theories; it's not the same thing."

"Tony, you only ever argue semantics when it'll help you out. Don't do something stupid."

"I'm a genius, I never do anything stupid. Maybe I'm a bit reckless sometimes," Rhodey snorted at that, "but even then I'm brilliantly reckless. Everything I do is brilliant; it's my basic state of being."

"Right, Tony, sure," Rhodey agreed with long-suffering indulgence. "Well you just let me know if your brilliance gets you into trouble, alright?"

"Sure, of course. By the way, I'll be out on the coast later. Keep the jets off me, will you?"

"Now I know you're up to something."

"Nothing you need to worry yourself about."

Rhodey gave a dubious hum. "You want to meet for lunch or dinner since you'll be out this way?"

"Depends on what I find. I'll call."

"Don't leave it too late or I'll make other plans."

"What, with the mess hall?"

"Bastard," Rhodey cussed him with long-suffering affection.

"Nah, I may be many things but I'm totally legitimate."

Rhodey shook his head. "See you later, jerk."

"You too, sunshine."

As soon as he'd ended the call, Tony headed toward the launch pad. The helmet was just about to close when he heard Natasha and turned to look at where she stood by the elevator.

"Where are you off to, Stark?"

"Just going hot rodding. Don't wait up, mom!"

Natasha gave him a disbelieving look, but before she could try to interrogate him on what he was really up to, the face-place snapped down and Tony took to the sky.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony flew low along the California coast. He'd been at it for nearly two hours to no avail.

"Anything, J?"

"The only sign of the element in any of our passes has been within the core of the suit's own reactor."

"And you're sure there's no chance we've just missed it? That the currents have taken it out of reach of our scans?"

"The search grid was prepared meticulously, taking into account all physical elements of the reactor, the currents and the weather patterns. There is only a 0.0983% chance we have missed the location of the reactor, barring artificial interference."

"And what are the odds anyone else would have moved it, given he and Pep are the only ones I ever told about throwing it away."

"...Should I take that question to be rhetorical?"

"Yeah... Guess we know what he was after then. The Question is why. Why any reactor at all, and more importantly, why _that_ reactor?"

"I lack sufficient data to form a hypothesis."

"You and me both, J, you and me both."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Weeks passed, and for most of the team the revelation of their mysterious visitor passed to the backs of their minds. With no new leads and no further attempts to access the tower, new threats and missions took priority. Tony and Jarvis worked out new protocols to ensure their visitor couldn't go unnoticed again with the same trick, and the priority fell even further. Everyone agreed they'd keep an eye out, but for the time being, all that could be done had been.

The problem with all that was that there actually _were_ leads, but while Tony wasn't able to figure out what they led _to_ , he kept it between himself and Jarvis. When they'd been unable to locate the old reactor, Jarvis had begun watching all of the systems he had access to, both public and private, for anything that might relate. What followed were reports of thefts of other arc reactors under mysterious circumstances. Disappearances from sealed rooms; reactors there and in use one moment, gone the next.

The thefts occurred all over the world, with seemingly no rhyme, reason or pattern, but two. Thus far each had been a different model number from the last, and each had been of a smaller size. The largest being no bigger than a compact car. Loki was looking for something, but what?

It was late one night, late enough to be legitimately tomorrow morning, when Tony finally got his answers.

Metallica cut off and Tony set down his welder, pulling off his goggles with a frown. "What gives, J? I have at least an hour before you nanny me off to bed."

"The interference field is back, sir. You wished to be notified the moment the anomaly was detected again."

"...That I did. Right, shut the workshop down for the night and ready a suit. Where's the field, the penthouse again?"

"More localised, it encompasses only your bedroom suite, sir."

"Huh... that's more forward than last time."

"Should I alert the others?" Jarvis asked as Tony was already halfway to the elevator.

"No, not yet anyway. If the field stays up more than two hours without word from me, then you can call them in."

"Sir, I feel I must point out this-"

"Is a very bad idea. Yeah, I know." Tony stepped into the elevator and grinned at his reflection on the wall. "My best ideas often are."

Jarvis sighed resignedly, and since he didn't need to breath, Tony knew that was entirely for his own benefit. "Very well, sir."

As Tony stepped off the elevator and walked down the short hall to his bedroom, Tony was all but vibrating he was so keyed up at the thought of confronting Loki - in his _bedroom_ of all places. It was a bit like when he'd had one too many cups of coffee, except worse. Then again, maybe it was that seventh cup of coffee he'd had a short while ago... but probably not. How could that compare to a trickster god in his bedroom?

Never particularly one for subtlety, and uncertain what he'd find, Tony decided to go for the grand entrance and thrust both doors to the room open at the same time. Then he stood there in shock.

Whatever he'd been expecting to find, and he wasn't quite sure what that was, it wasn't Loki curled up on his bed under _the_ green blanket, looking like death warmed over and... _cuddling_ his old reactor?!

Loki opened tired eyes. "Hello, Stark, you don't look surprised to see me, though you do look as though you're about to choke on something. Not your best look."

Tony did his best to tamp down on his shock, it wouldn't do to start this encounter wrong-footed, it would give Loki an undesirable advantage. Closing the doors behind himself, Tony stepped further into the room to lean casually against his dresser as though this situation wasn't at all bizarre.

"I was expecting you, your little static field doesn't go undetected anymore."

Loki's lips curved in a mischievous grin. "Yes, I noticed you'd added further redundancies to your system."

"You... you _wanted_ me to know you were here, without any other tangible proof to use against you," Tony accused.

Loki gave a shrug and rubbed the edge of the green blanket between his fingers. "It seems you kept the most tangible evidence of my last visit, and on your bed no less. I should probably reclaim it least you find some way to use it against me."

"No!" The word was out before Tony had even thought it, and the desperation was clear to them both.

Loki quirked a brow, drawling, "Well, isn't that interesting..."

Tony, refusing to give him more ammunition by attempting to explain away his outburst, just stared back at Loki mulishly.

Somehow Loki ended up being the one to relent first. "Hmm, I supposed I could leave it, depending..."

"You want to trade something for a fleece blanket?" Tony was starting to wonder if he'd imagined that last coffee. Maybe he was still down in the lab, asleep at his work bench. Of course he remembered how his last Loki-involved presumed hallucination went, so best not to rely on that theory. "If you're looking for a bigger reactor than the last one you stole, it'll cost you a helluva lot more than a blanket."

"You were paying attention, very good. And that implies you would sell me one, promising. Also, theft is unnecessary; I was merely borrowing them for my experiments." Loki flicked a hand and a projection hovered in the middle of the room. Tony knew it wasn't generated by his system because it was gold-tinged rather than blue. "They all await collection from that building."

Tony examined the projection more closely. "You utter shit, that's a Stark Industries warehouse!"

"Then it should be easy for you to locate and return them," Loki told him with an unrepentant grin.

"And you can't return them yourself because...?"

"It's not really my style. Besides which, I'm rather tired if you hadn't noticed," Loki gestured to his reclined position, "and that would take a great deal of energy I don't currently possess."

Tony was about to protest, but that last line gave him pause. Loki was implying he was at least _somewhat_ vulnerable and he'd come to Tony that way. Huh. Now the question was what angle he was working. With Loki, nothing was ever as simple as just calling in a perceived debt for a safe place to sleep. There were plenty of other places he could likely secure that. Why Tony?

"Alright then, so what is it you _do_ want from me, aside from stealing my bed for a nap? And why are you cuddling my old arc reactor like it's your favourite teddy-bear?"

Loki looked down at the reactor with a grimace. "The static, as you call it, is for my protection. The proximity of this device is for both our protections."

"A little less cryptic?"

"You recall the hold the sceptre had on your Agent Barton, and how this device protected you from its influence?"

"Yeah, it stopped you making contact with my skin."

Loki scoffed. "If it was as simple as that, there would have been more than you whom avoided its hold. My own armour would have given me greater protection certainly, as this blocked only a very small portion of your chest."

"You are not trying to imply you weren't responsible for your actions at that invasion. I didn't see any glowing blue eyes, and I got a damn good look at those peepers before you defenestrated me. Dick move, that, by the way."

Loki waved his words away. "No, I was responsible for my actions. The sceptre was capable of magic more subtle than mere mind control, however. My... keeper used it to set an anchor within me so he could ensure the loyalty of my actions."

"You're seriously saying you were magically bugged?"

"More than that, if that's the analogy you wish to use. The 'bug' also contained a 'kill switch'. Betray my role and at best I'd be subjected to never-ending pain, at worst, death. Even with the sceptre in my own possession, I'd been unable to undo his work. Asgard seemed my best chance for a solution."

Tony thought that over for a few moments and he didn't like how much sense it was making. "You orchestrated that whole invasion to be caught." Loki gave a small shrug and Tony glared at him. "We caught you twice. Why bother breaking out and doubling your death toll?" he demanded.

"Your first cage was pathetic," Loki scoffed. "Thor should have had the bindings with him from the beginning."

"He was probably hoping you'd go home willingly."

"Then he was still as much the fool as he'd long been. Though he seems to have improved some small measure of late," Loki mused.

"Funny," Tony told him with a smirk, "since that's exactly what you did, while pretending otherwise. Bruce was right to compare you to a bag of cats, you're as contrary as one."

"What is the human saying? Pot meet kettle, you're black."

"Hey, I never pretend I'm anything but a contrary ass-hole," Tony pointed out.

"Hmm, perhaps."

"So you directly or indirectly caused the deaths of over a hundred people to sell your capture."

"And avoid my own death, yes. I have never pretended to be anything other than self-serving," Loki threw Tony's own words back at him.

"Touché. So how does this relate to the arc? I presume Asgard didn't have the solution you'd hoped."

"The cell I was held within severed my connection to the cosmic web. It didn't prevent all magic from entering, but it contained my own within. I ceased to feel the connection to my keeper and so I'd thought, hoped, the connection had been severed."

"But it wasn't."

"Correct. It seems instead it lay dormant, stagnating in its disuse. I was not aware of its continued existence until a few weeks ago when I felt the tug of the bond changing ownership."

"If it's dormant, how'd he give it away?"

"He could not have. I presume he is dead and some sort of fail-safe has transferred ownership to _his_ master," Loki told him, expression going dark.

"And this is the guy you were working for, apparently half-assedly, when you invaded."

"No-one 'works' for the Mad Titan, Stark. You are owned or you are mastered, that is it. His favoured pets, those he calls his children, contain the few that claim willing loyalty, but is it truly willing if they have been deceived by their very upbringing?" There was a bitterness to Loki's tone as he pondered this, before scowling and moving on. "It is no matter, though, as they make up a very small number of his forces. The rest serve either because they have been broken and remade as he desires, or out of fear and a scant sense of self-preservation."

"And you?"

"I allowed him to _believe_ me remade... Though while I resisted conversion, I cannot truly say my already fragile sense of self remained unscathed. I wonder if Frigga sensed that, and so begged the All-Father spare my life, or if it was purely sentiment," Loki mused and seemed to get lost in thought.

"So you're different... but not in the way this 'Mad Titan' wanted?"

Loki's gaze refocused and a slow smirk graced his features. "In essence."

"And this has what to do with my arc reactor again?" Tony prompted once more.

"I want the tether severed, not just dormant. It is best for me that way, and it's best for you as well."

"Because you're much less interested in us than he is."

"Now you're keeping up. I theorised the power from your reactor might sever the tether..."

"So you took all those models to test your theory and you're returning them now that you're done. How thoughtful," Tony snarked.

"When it suits my purposes."

"Your purpose being to ask some sort of favour in exchange for allowing me to keep a fleece blanket and the return of stolen property?" Tony didn't even try to hide how dubious he found that.

"Not a favour, to claim a debt."

"I don't owe you anything," Tony protested, even though part of him did feel as though he did. Without the night they shared, Tony had a feeling the last few weeks would have gone a lot less smoothly.

"Do you not? Then why have you concealed from your companions that I live?"

Tony fought not to squirm under Loki's penetrating gaze. A man reclined shouldn't be able to stare through someone like that.

"I gave you peace in a time of great need, such things carry weight on the soul, heavier than any magic. You feel it, and that is why you've protected me." Tony's continued silence was agreement enough, and Loki gave him a self-satisfied smile. "Rest easy, what I ask of you will benefit us both, and should test your moral code no more than you have already done yourself."

"You need my help to break the tether."

"Yes."

~*~*~*~*~*~

The idea was actually rather beautiful in its simplicity, Tony thought as he studied the golden hologram. Loki had found the small reactor had produced ambient energy waves at a particular frequency that interfered with the energy from the Mind Gem - that's what he'd called the bobble in the Glowstick of Destiny - and it had disconcerted Tony no small amount to find out it was back in Loki's possession.

"Would you prefer I'd left it in Hydra's grip?" Loki had asked, and it almost surprised him how quickly the "No" came to his lips in response. He might not trust Loki, sane and sober as he was in comparison to their last meeting, but he distrusted him far less than Hydra. Selfishness he could work with, zealous insanity not so much.

At first Loki had thought to sever the connection by using a larger reactor, but it seemed the energy waves changed with the reactor's size. The larger the reactor, the less effective it became on the Mind Gem. That was how this design came about. If you couldn't make a field large enough to cut the tether by making the reactor bigger, then you needed to make enough small reactors to surround the target.

Loki found keeping the single reactor near suppressed the tether, so it was presumed he would be the target, though the design he'd derived was also adaptable to surround the sceptre as well if that didn't work. The design was rather ingenious, the only problem was it would require Tony to make dozens of small reactors. That was fine as long as he trusted this was Loki's real purpose for the reactors. The possibilities for what else he might be able to do with this many miniature reactors was troubling at best.

Tony looked from the design over to where Loki was resting on the bed. Sleeping he just looked tired, you'd never guess at the chaos he was capable of when awake

"I can _feel_ you staring," Loki murmured and opened his eyes, "it is distracting from much needed sleep."

"Yeah, you do look a bit like death warmed over," Tony quipped with a grin to hide the unwelcome flare of concern he felt.

Loki's eyes narrowed. "It is fortunate for you that I require your specialized expertise."

"Aw, Sleeping Beauty, with threats like that, how could I possibly not do your bidding? They make me all warm and fuzzy inside."

For a moment it looked like Loki was going to snap at him, but then he got this oddly contemplative look on his face and sat up. The look he gave Tony next could be described as nothing short of sultry, and combined with his dishevelled appearance... Tony felt something stirring, a combined sense of lust and affection that was far from wise.

Before he could manage to stuff that unwelcome feeling away in the locked box it belonged in, Loki spoke.

"You think I'm beautiful?" he said it like he'd never heard such a thing before, and that damn feeling surged back up again.

"What? No, it was a joke, a reference to an old fairy tale." Loki looked crestfallen and Tony felt like an ass. "I mean of course you're attractive, I slept with you, didn't I?"

"You were extremely drunk and grief-stricken, it hardly counts."

"Hey, I have standards, even when drunk! Just because I've agreed on questioning your sanity more than once, it doesn't mean you're not physically attractive. The whole dishevelled thing sort of works for you, makes you look like you belong in someone's bed," Tony babbled.

"Yours?"

"I...well... Oh fucking Einstein on a pogo-stick, you're such an asshole," Tony grumbled as Loki broke down laughing.

"The look on your face as you scrambled for a reply!" Loki grinned and Tony felt that pull return. His smile, one of pure mirth, without malice, lit his face up and took away the ever present edge of bitter weariness that Loki seemed to cloak himself in. "I am hardly a blushing maid that requires reassurance, Stark, but your efforts are appreciated."

"You are, however, an accomplished actor, so how am I supposed to trust that this plan of yours is legit?" Tony asked with a gesture to the hologram, bringing them back around to business, where he was more comfortable.

Loki actually sobered at that and looked thoughtful. "I will swear a blood oath to you on the matter. Such things are life or death binding for those whom have resided on Asgard for any great length of time. And before you ask, this is information you are capable of checking with Thor. It applies to all, and not just mages."

"I'll do that then. And provided he corroborates, I'll start on this little project. It'll take me a few days to have all the materials I need and complete it."

"That is fine, I can do with the rest," Loki told him and laid back down.

" _Here_?" That wasn't an incredulous squeak, nope, no way; it was a demand, definitely. "Don't you have a... lair or something to go back to?"

"I am neither a cave dwelling beast, nor one of your world's fictional villains, so certainly not. Besides, I do not close on my property until next month," he added flippantly.

"...You're buying property on Earth?"

"If I intend to hide amongst you all until I am certain I am safe, it is prudent. Don't you think?"

Of all the strange turns this conversation had taken, somehow finding out Loki was legally entering the property ladder was the strangest.

"Right... I think I'll just go find Thor now," Tony told him and turned for the door.

"Suit yourself," Loki murmured and snuggled back down under the fleece blanket to rest.

With his eyes closed there were no witnesses to claim the increase in Tony's pace was fleeing.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony was relieved when Jarvis informed him Thor was already up for the morning, because the sooner he had his answers, the sooner he got Loki out of his tower. _Not_ because he needed a distraction from his _feelings_. Clearly his libido was doing some sort of rebound thing from losing Pepper and he was going to nip that right in the bud with research and science, the only true constants in his life.

About an hour into their conversation about Aesir customs - Tony figured general knowledge was a good way to hide his specific interest, and with the number of Aesir in his life currently doubled he figured it would come in handy - Thor gave Tony a shrewd look over his third mug of coffee.

"Why the sudden interest in the customs of my people, friend? I have been splitting my time between here and the Lady Jane's for some months and we have never had such a long discussion on the topic before."

Fortunately Tony already had an answer for that. "You said yourself not that long ago that Asgard has a fair few baddies running amok right now. Figured I should find out what's fact and fiction, in case there's something to be warned of or exploit. Like the old legend you should use a sword of iron to kill faeries," Tony joked.

"That is foolish, you cannot put nearly a sharp enough edge on an iron blade. Besides, it is best to use in projectiles which will remain lodged in soft flesh, since its benefit is as an irritant to the wound."

"Wait, faeries are real? Why am I asking, of course they are, you are."

Thor gave him a dubious look for his babbling. "I presumed it was the fae of Alfheim of which you spoke, with their sidhe courts, was it not?"

"I'm pretty sure that sentence mixed Norse and Celtic mythology in one go, so it's just proved my point about how all this stuff is related, but our records are mixed up. Also, I think I’m going to start assuming all of our mythological creatures are based on aliens," Tony told him with a kind of resigned amusement. "Next thing I know, you'll be telling me dragons are from Muspelheim and mermaids swim in the oceans of Alfheim."

"Makluan dragons are from the planet Kakaranathara, not Muspelheim. They may breathe fire, but their scaled hide would not withstand the vast lava fields of Muspelheim unscathed. As far as I am aware, mermaids are the result of human hallucination only, however."

There was a moment of silence as Tony digested that, before finally saying dryly, "My point has just been made."

Thor gave a wry chuckle. "So it has, my friend, so it has."

"Well then, since we've established faerie myths have a base in reality and the iron thing isn't far off, what about bargains? We have legends that say certain types of fairies can be bound to an unbreakable oath, not just legally but magically. That have any basis in fact?"

"Aye, though you have attributed it to the wrong race. The fae are tricksters and will do anything in their power to get out of what they consider to be an unfavourable contract, including breaking it if necessary. That is why there are few fae willing to spend extended periods of time on Asgard."

"Oh?" Tony thought he did a good job of hiding his particular interest at this line of conversation. Certainly Thor no longer seemed suspicious.

"Asgard is a place of honour through its very being. That does not prevent some from acts of cowardice or dishonesty, nor does it enforce an outside moral code, except in one fashion. This innate power of the world seeps into the very blood of a person whom lives within Asgard's lands for a number of your decades, and it takes centuries to dissipate."

"But how does that actually enforce anything?"

"Any oath sealed in blood is written on the person's very being. Breaking the oath risks the oath-breaker's death by flame from within." At Tony's questioning look he elaborated, "Their blood will boil in their veins."

"You're kidding me."

"This is not a topic about which I would jest."

"That's positively medieval."

"It pre-dates your medieval period."

It took Tony a moment to digest this, but when he did he had more questions. Thor answered them all patiently, but there was no loophole Tony could find. In fact, it was no wonder the fae avoided bargains with Aesir given that according to Thor, a mutual spilling of blood would equally bind the other party as well.

Thoughts tumbled through Tony's mind after that, and he had a hard time masking his distraction. It was with no small amount of relief he greeted the end of their discussion when Jarvis interrupted with, "Captain Rogers has returned from his morning run and wishes to know if you will be joining him for pancakes."

Steve rarely made pancakes on a weekday without prompting, so it was an offer neither Tony nor Thor would ever turn down, and Tony was grateful for the well-timed distraction from his digital companion.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Loki woke to the smell of freshly cooked breakfast meats, and opened his eyes to find Tony standing by the bed with a tray piled high with pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausages.

"Don't get used to it," Tony warned as he set the tray on the bedside table. "Steve made enough to feed an army, like usual, so I grabbed some of the leftovers for you. Thought you might be less annoying on a full stomach."

"The good Captain's cooking smells quite passable, certainly better than many meals I had in my youth."

"When you went adventuring with Thor."

"Indeed." Loki took a first bite and tucked into the rest with enthusiasm. "Quite pleasing, my thanks."

"So you are capable of being properly polite."

"I was raised as a prince, Stark, my manners are impeccable-"

"When it suits your purposes," Tony finished dryly.

"Precisely," Loki agreed with a grin. "This coffee is rather basic however. I prefer a macchiato."

"Then go to Starbucks."

Loki gave him a disgusted look. "I prefer an independent café. They have more soul."

"I thought I was done with surprises today, and then I find out you're a coffee snob. Will wonders never cease?"

"Why so much disdain, Stark? I would think you would be pleased I am finding things of worth on your backwater world, given I intend to spend an extended time here. Perhaps it will encourage a more benevolent outlook on you fleeting mortals. There is certainly something to be said for your culinary pursuits."

"And maybe it'll kindle urges for a more genuine takeover attempt."

Loki scoffed at that. "Your lot would be far too bothersome to rule with your entrenched ideas of republics and so-called democracies. Having my fun out of the public eye is much more appealing."

"That's hardly reassuring."

"Oh was that what I was supposed to be doing, reassuring you?"

"You're asking for my help, on something potentially quite dangerous if you have any hidden intent. Most people in that situation would be trying to reassure their potential ally."

"You'd only be more suspicious of me if I was trying to be reassuring." Tony silently conceded he had a point. "Besides which, I have already offered to make a blood oath, and by now you have no doubt asked Thor all about such things."

"I have," Tony admitted and wondered if he was about to make the biggest mistake of his life. There was no doubt his friends would think so, Jarvis had been dubious and he'd aided in the plan.

Tony pulled a sheet of paper from his pocket. "My counter proposal," he announced and Loki paused in his eating to watch him curiously.

"I, Tony Stark of Earth, agree to provide you, Loki presently of Midgard-" That got an amused snort and an answering glare.

"Accurate, if not a title I had ever planned to have. Do go on."

"...With whatever aide it is within my power to provide to sever the binding that ties you to the Mad Titan," he really had Loki's attention now, "even if that requires more than we have already discussed, barring that which will result in the breaking of any law, foreign or domestic, which I would find it morally objectionable to do so. Further, we agree to provide each other and any mutual allies with aide, should such Mad Titan pose a renewed threat to any world in which either of us holds a vested interest within the boundaries of space known as The Nine Realms."

"And your price for such support, beyond the mutual aide pact?" Loki asked curiously.

Rather than addressing him directly, Tony continued reading his prepared contract. "In exchange, you agree not to intentionally cause harm - through either direct or indirect action - to any person - organic or synthetic," Loki gave an interested hum at that and glanced toward the ceiling, "in whom I have a vested interest. Further, you will refrain from any attempts - direct or indirect - to reign over any part of the Earth - in whole or in part - which you have not obtained via legal purchase of property for the next 200 Earth solar years. This agreement shall be binding even in the event of my death, natural or premature, and should my part of the contract be incomplete upon such death, the synthetic being known as Jarvis will maintain my role in my stead."

"And just what will bind your computer program to your oath if you are dead?" Loki asked sceptically, only to be startled by the method of response.

"I am far more complex than any other system you may have encountered on Earth, sir," Jarvis replied from Tony's pocket. "And a foundational element of my programming is a directive to uphold Mr. Stark's word to the best of my ability whenever he is unable."

"You circumvented my communications block," Loki accused Tony. "How?"

"Your block remains in place. I was displeased with my inability to observe this room in my traditional fashion, so I downloaded a portion of myself to Mr. Stark's personal communications device in order to accompany him within your shield."

"He likes to nanny me," Tony said with amusement. "Satisfied he can keep up my end of the deal?"

Loki looked thoughtful before finally inclining his head in concession. "Well enough. You are a fascinating construct, Jarvis."

"I believe I shall take that as a compliment."

"Indeed you should."

"So, your answer on my counterproposal?"

Loki looked at Tony thoughtfully. "You offer a great deal more than expected, but you also ask for much."

"I don't think so really. It's in your best interest to work with me to defeat the Mad Titan where needed since it's him you're trying to get away from, and the rest shouldn't matter if you truly have no interest in taking over Earth."

"It would curtail my avenues for mischief with which to entertain myself."

"I'm sure you'll find plenty of other mischief to get into," Tony countered.

Loki's expression turned slyly thoughtful. "Perhaps you're right," he conceded.

Part of Tony thought he should be concerned with how that look seemed to focus upon him, but the rest was too busy suppressing a shiver of anticipation. Life would never be boring with Loki around, Tony was certain of it.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Loki insisted on finishing his meal before they swore the oath, and on Tony showering.

"I refuse to enter into such an important contract with someone wearing yesterday's clothes and smelling of stale coffee."

He thought about pointing out it was entirely appropriate given he'd now been awake more than 24 hours straight, but the thought that Loki might add a stipulation for Tony to take a nap held his tongue. He wanted this contract made and Loki bound to his promises, then maybe he could relax enough to sleep.

Once he was showered and dressed in fresh jeans and a T-shirt, Tony presented himself. "Satisfied your highness?" he drawled.

Loki looked up from the book he had acquired from somewhere and Tony felt like the gaze was consuming him, until Loki smirked and the moment was broken. "Rather casual, but it will do. Thor explained how the process worked?"

"He said for a mutual oath we would both have to draw our own blood and press the wounds together so our blood mingled while we swore the oath. Very hygienic," he added dryly.

"Yes, well, that is Asgard for you," Loki retorted derisively. "Some fools cut their palms so they might clasp hands as they swear their oath. I have always preferred the forearm, much less irksome even with my better than human healing."

"The site doesn't matter?" Thor never specified it _had_ to be the palm, so he supposed he could accept Loki's words on this.

"No, only the meeting of the blood. We could use our shoulders for all the magic cares, but I would not recommend it for logistical reasons."

"Fair enough, let's get to it then."

Loki pulled a knife that looked surgically sharp from seemingly nowhere.

"I have to learn how you do that."

"Mage's trade secret," Loki smirked.

"Hmm, we'll see." Tony's mind was already spinning with ideas for calibrating sensors and the types of readings one might need to actually record magic being performed. Despite the distraction of his thoughts, Tony rolled his sleeve up as Loki did the same.

While they'd been getting ready, Jarvis had converted Tony's proposal into oaths for them to speak. Loki ran the blade over his arm first, and it left a trail of dark wine red in its wake, before offering the blade to Tony. The part of him concerned with things like hygiene considered wiping the blade off before he used it, but what would be the point? In moments their wounds would be pressed together, mixing far more than the few drops on the blade. Once more he had the thought his friends would decry him for a fool, but he was determined nonetheless, spurred on perhaps by that sense of obligation Loki had so accurately called out. Before he could second-guess himself further, he was running the blade over his skin.

The blade was as sharp as it looked, and he didn't feel the sting until after he was done.

"You may set the blade down," Loki told him with a gesture toward the bed - and Tony would have sworn that finely embroidered cloth wasn't sitting there a few moments ago, more _magic_ it seemed. "Its purpose is complete, but it is right for the blade to witness the union it wrought."

Tony did as he bid, and by the time he was done plenty of his own bright red blood had welled to the surface. They reached out to clasp arms and Tony found himself marvelling as their blood mingled. Two beings from far distant worlds, and yet their blood was both red. Different shades, mind, but still... The scientific part of his mind pointed out it was likely just because they both had iron based blood, but he couldn't help feeling there was something poignant about it nonetheless.

"And the oath," Loki murmured, pulling Tony from his reverie.

Because he was within Loki's interference field within the phone, Jarvis was able to access the room's holo-emitters and projections of each of their parts of the oath materialized in a familiar blue beside them. Tony began, and as he recited his portion of the oath he couldn't help reflecting on how much it felt like taking vows; something he'd never done, even with Pepper. He reminded himself this was a far different matter though; this was about ensuring Loki didn't stab him in the back, or anywhere else.

He brought his full attention back to the matter at hand when it was Loki's turn to speak, ensuring he spoke the words as written. A single word out of place could change the meaning and give Loki an out to work with. To Tony's slight surprise however, that didn't seem to be his intention at all. Loki recited the words exactly as written, holding Tony's gaze evenly the whole time. It was as he was nearing the end of the oath that Tony felt something shift.

He couldn't put his finger on it at first, but as the sensation of _otherness_ built, he felt something change at his wound. It wasn't that it hurt more, more like a low level electrical current; not quite low enough to go unnoticed, nor strong enough to hurt.

As Loki finished speaking a glow started to shine from the place their wounds met. Before he could question it, there was a blinding flash, the sensation like a strong static shock, and then it was gone.

Tony was still blinking away the flash blindness, being held steady by Loki's grip on his arm, as the other said, "It is done."

His vision finally cleared as Loki released his arm, and Tony looked down with a touch of surprise to see the wound was gone, along with every last drop of blood that had clung to his skin. "Well you never mentioned the flashy finish."

"It is not my job to seek out the gaps in your education when you fail to ask the right questions," Loki retorted with a mischievous grin.

"That's the kind of thing I would say... I'm starting to get the feeling this partnership is going to teach me why I drive other people crazy," Tony opined wryly.

"I believe I should be insulted by that, instead I shall just ask when we are going to begin work."

"It's going to take a couple of days to get all of the things I need," Tony told him. "I can start on some of it with what I have now, but I'm afraid you'll need to just make do until then."

"I suppose this isn't the worst place for me to spend the next few days," Loki mused. "I have stayed in more deplorable conditions."

"Wait, what? Stay here? That's a horrible idea, aren't you trying to pretend you're dead? This building contains the majority of the people on Earth who know what you look like well enough to identify you on sight without the megalomaniac world domination get-up."

"I actually thought it was more tasteful than my last set of formal attire on Asgard. I think the tailor was trying to overcompensate for the perceived femininity of my position as a mage." At Tony's questioning look he gestured to his crotch with a grin. "The trousers left little to the imagination."

"Asgard's royal fashion is sounding more and more ostentatious the more I hear about it."

"There is some particular armour that brings to mind a Midgardian saying about stones and glass houses."

Tony sighed. "Fine, fine, touché. None of this changes the fact that your staying here is a bad idea."

Loki took a step back, and with a flash of green where there was moments before Asgardian leather, there was now a black and green ensemble fit to have come from one of 5th Avenue's boutiques. His face had changed as well, hair now a short and stylish asymmetric cut, his features subtly different in ways that left him physically appealing for the same reasons as his natural form, yet one would be pressed to say he and Loki were even cousins.

"And what of Luke Williams staying here?"

"Is this the disguise you're using to buy your apartment?"

"I have many faces when I wish, Tony Stark."

The huskiness of his voice as he reminded Tony of that brought him right back to The Night, and Tony had the sudden urge to bury his fingers in that stylish hair and mess it up, amongst other things.

"And why would Luke Williams be staying with me?"

"Why a rebound fling of course." Something of Tony's shock at the idea must have been showing on his face, because Loki grinned slyly as he added, "Young and male, sufficiently different from your Miss Potts to not be an attempt to replace or supplant her in your memory. It seems fitting, no? And when we're done, no-one will question why Luke was never seen again."

"It's only been a few weeks..." Tony protested.

"Which is why you acquired your fling discretely, of course. You surely cannot argue that it does not fit with your reputation."

"Well, no..."

"Then is the problem that it is myself?" Loki asked and prowled forward. It was the only word for it really, given how Tony felt stalked like prey. "That didn't seem to be a problem when I was providing you comfort."

"I thought it was a dream!"

"When you have walked between the worlds as I have, dreams can seem the most real thing of all."

"I was drunk, grief-stricken and arguably out of my mind."

"And in none of these protests have you actually said you'd take back what happened if you could." Loki looked at him thoughtfully. "Is it because you know it's what you should say, what society and your comrades would expect of you, but it is not how you truly feel?" He glanced at the telling green blanket folded neatly on the bed.

There was a long silence before Tony finally said begrudgingly, "I have a tendency to want exactly the worst things for myself, and the one time I didn't, she was taken away from me by my own foolishness."

"In my experience the universe rarely rewards brilliance in the ways most wished for."

That made Tony pause. In that moment, with those softly spoken words, Loki was no longer the haughty fallen prince, or the predator stalking his prey. He was once more that kindred spirit that had seen him through his darkest night.

"How do you keep doing that?" Tony wondered aloud.

"Doing what?"

"Making me want to like you, when by all rights I should hate you, but I don't."

That must have been far from what Loki had been expecting to hear, given the momentary shock that graced his face. It was quickly suppressed by a teasing smirk. "Purely unintentional," he quipped instead of actually addressing Tony's musings. "I just want you for your tech and the distraction your body provides."

If Loki had been trying to throw him off his more serious contemplation, he failed. Instead, Tony saw another showman like himself, hiding behind his masks.

"Hmm," Tony murmured as he closed the last few feet between them, "I suppose 'Luke' would prove a good way to pass the time while I wait for materials to arrive." He gripped Loki's collar, and the god allowed himself to be pulled down. "Time to put an element of truth to that fling."

"No more protesting? However would you explain the sudden change of heart to your brothers-at-arms?" Loki murmured back, eyes falling to Tony's lips.

"I suppose I could say you bewitched me with your silver tongue instead of magic." Tony gave him a cheeky grin, "Or I could blame poor impulse control on sleep deprivation and too much caffeine. J would vouch for me."

"You have not slept in 42 and a half hours, and even I have lost track of the number of cups of coffee consumed," Jarvis agreed dryly.

"I don't know whether to be more appalled that you have entered into a magically binding contract while arguably impaired, or that your servant has been monitoring the beginning of our liaison."

"The first, definitely. Jarvis is the paramount of discretion."

"TMZ would pay me multiple small fortunes for the information I could provide on sir and his associates. Fortunately my programming has not evolved a desire for monetary reward."

"See? Now enough talking, I've got an ill-advised fling to get on with here," Tony told him and pulled Loki in those last few inches to kiss the laugh from Loki's lips.

"Before you are too otherwise occupied," Jarvis interrupted, "might I suggest in some way providing me access to the world outside this room? I cannot order the required materials and monitor the tower's other residents without it."

Without breaking the kiss, Loki waved a hand and it felt like static in the air suddenly dissipated.

"Thank you, sir."

"Really need to learn how you do that," Tony murmured into the kiss.

"Don't think I'll tell you," Loki retorted. "You wouldn't be nearly as agreeable if I didn't have so many secrets you wanted to solve."

"Maybe," he conceded, then pushed Loki back towards the bed. "Sorta sorry the field's down now, you'll have to stay as Luke."

"If I possessed such a thing as remorse I might feel guilt for letting you continue to speak, you are clearly impaired to be making such admissions. Fortunately I don't," Loki said with a grin, "so instead I will just assure you I am the same under my clothes as I was before."

Tony looked for a moment as though he were going to protest something of what Loki had said, but instead he just took advantage of reaching the edge of the bed to push Loki back upon it.

They tumbled to the covers together and everything became a blur in the hurry to reach skin. Shirts, shoes, trousers, all became the victims of their eager hands. Neither was as interested in careful exploration this time, instead it was an almost frantic drive for pleasure.

Somewhere along the way Loki flipped them over, Tony lost track of just quite when, but he didn't care. Loki, with his longer legs, could get the better leverage and the friction was just too good to worry about anything else. Loki still needed him to make the device, so for now Tony could trust him, at least enough for this.

They ground together and writhed until Tony couldn't hold back any longer and he came, sinking his teeth into Loki's shoulder with a groan of satisfaction. It was only a few more thrusts before Loki came as well, and whether that disproved the stamina of the gods or just showed how much Loki had needed it, Tony would leave it to contemplate for a time when his body and mind both didn't feel like they'd melted.

Loki rolled to the side and they lie there in silence for long enough Loki thought perhaps the mortal had finally fallen asleep. Even more surprising than that he hadn't were the words with which Tony broke their stillness.

"You're wrong you know," he said quietly.

Loki turned his head to quirk a brow at him doubtfully. "I find that unlikely, but do go on."

"You have remorse." That shocked Loki to stillness. "If you didn't, the night you started this would have gone very differently." Tony didn't elaborate further, he didn't have to. They both knew Loki could have manipulated that evening very differently than he had if he'd chosen to.

The silence reigned again, though it wasn't so peaceful this time.

Finally Loki murmured, "You're always so perceptive about everyone but yourself."

Tony looked curiously at him. "What's that from?"

"Something I was told not so very long ago, by someone much wiser than I."

"It can be hard to see yourself when you think you've got the whole world around you figured out."

"Know that from experience, do you?"

"Yeah, actually I do."

There was quiet again for quite a while, but it was comfortable this time, and Loki was the one that finally broke it.

"You're a strange creature, Tony Stark," he murmured almost fondly. The only response he got however was a quiet snore.

Loki chuckled softly to himself, the mad inventor had finally succumbed to sleep it seemed. He grabbed the neatly folded blanket and shook it out over them both. He could do with a few more hours of sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~

When Tony woke alone in bed later that afternoon, he found himself unaccountably disappointed. Before Pepper it had been his preferred way to wake, leaving as unnoticed as possible if he hadn't, but she'd taught him how different it could be when it wasn't with a one-night-stand. Since what he shared with Loki was essentially an elaborate one-night-stand, the only explanation was that he was still getting used to sleeping alone.

"Hey Jarvis, our visitor finally decide to go home?"

"I'm afraid not, sir. Mr. Williams is in the kitchen, preparing some sort of evening meal."

"What?! Why didn't you stop him?"

"How do you propose I prevent his teleportation?" Jarvis asked dryly.

Tony, already up and pulling on his pants, paused in horror. "He didn't."

"He did not, however he did indicate it would be his next step if I denied his use of the elevator."

"And you didn't wake me about this because?"

"You were sleeping the most peacefully I have observed in quite some time, and dinner did not seem a particularly nefarious pastime for him to be engaged in."

That took the wind from Tony's sails.

"Sorry J, I should have learned to trust your judgement by now." Tony resumed dressing at a more normal pace. "Is he alone then?"

"No, he is being observed dubiously by the good Captain."

Tony sighed, of course he couldn't go even one day before the others found out about 'Luke'. Hell that was probably _why_ Loki was making dinner in the first place.

As Tony stepped off the elevator onto the communal floor, he could hear Loki's voice coming from the kitchen. If he didn't already know it was him he might never have guessed it, not because Loki had made some drastic change to his voice, but rather because of how subtle the changes were. It was still Loki's voice, but the accent and cadence had changed so he sounded like any other cheerful 20-something Manhattanite.

"If you're going to be standing there watching me the whole time you could at least help," the voice teased flirtatiously. "I hate chopping the onions."

"I wouldn't be watching you if you just left the building like I told you to the first time," Steve countered irritably.

"And I already told you I'm not going anywhere until _Tony_ says he's done with me."

Tony couldn't help a little shiver at the way Loki purred his name, even if the effect was just so it would wind Steve up.

"He doesn't need some gold-digger sniffing around him when he's still grieving."

"Oh honey, you have got this _all_ wrong..."

Tony's eavesdropping was interrupted by a quiet voice beside him murmuring, "You really ought to go in there and save him."

Tony grinned at Bruce. "Which one?"

"Steve, of course," Bruce grinned back. "I think your boy-toy is trying to give him an apoplexy."

"Do you think he actually can with that serum in his veins?"

"I don't know, but Luke's certainly giving it a good try."

Tony grinned at that, but started walking towards the kitchen with Bruce.

"Why didn't you go in there to help Steve if you've been listening long enough to catch his name?"

"Because it was amusing and I wasn't the one that brought him into the house." Bruce looked at him curiously as they entered the kitchen, "Where did you get him anyway?"

That wasn't part of the cover story they'd discussed yet, fortunately Loki already had an answer for it.

He looked over and gave them a bright smile as they walked into the room. "We met at the talk Tony gave at MIT last week. My thesis project includes arc technology and Tony offered to have a look at it as the world's foremost expert. I decided to take him up on it this morning and we _connected_ over science."

Steve grimaced at the innuendo, but for Tony the shiver was back and from the look in Loki's eyes he hadn't missed that fact. In fact it seemed like no one in the room had.

Tony decided it was time for a change of subject. "I didn't know you could cook." That got him a _look_ from Loki. Oh yeah, about a decade living like a human woman at a time when cooking would have been considered a primarily female job, of course he could cook. "So what are you making then?"

"Venison stew, I figured it was best to make something it would be easy to make quite a few large portions of in case your colleagues joined us. It seems to have been a wise choice," he said with a glance at Steve and Bruce.

"I don't remember having venison in the house," Bruce said thoughtfully.

"I asked Jarvis to order it in from a local butcher for me," Loki said without missing a beat, even though Tony was certain Jarvis had done no such thing.

Before Steve could make the protest about using Tony's resources without permission that he could see brewing, Tony cut in with, "Well the meat smells delicious already," bringing everyone's attention to the meat searing in preparation for the braised stew.

"I use a blend of seasonings on it before it's seared. It's an old family recipe," Loki said and Tony got the feeling 'old' might be an understatement in this case.

"Well I'm sure it'll go down well with the rest of the team," Bruce said, "especially Thor." Tony gave Loki credit for not even flinching at the mention of his former brother; he put on a hell of a mask.

"I wasn't trying to audition with the team," Loki said flippantly. "I doubt I'll be around here that long. I just wanted to thank Tony for the help he's offered me on my project over the next few days." Loki said the words very evenly and Tony wondered if he was beginning to regret his joke.

"Few days?" That Steve could pack that much disapproval into two words was impressive. Tony couldn't decide if he was more touched at Steve's concern, or annoyed at the implication he wasn't capable of looking after himself. He decided in the end it was better to just keep building Loki's cover rather than address either emotion.

"Yeah, a few days. I told Luke I'd help him build the prototype he needs. It can be built in a fraction of the time and cost in my lab compared to MIT's."

"Tony, is this really a good idea?"

"I'm a big boy Steve, I think I can handle a bit of science and fun with a grad student." Trickster gods might be another matter, but Tony was going to take his chances. "Sorry about this Luke, Steve can be a bit overprotective. It can lead to things like talking about people as though they're not standing right there."

"Oh don't stop on my behalf," Loki said with a grin. "This is making for amusing pre-dinner entertainment, and I've acquired a different assistant." He gestured toward Bruce, who was chopping the onions for him since Steve hadn't obliged.

For his part, Steve just looked mulish about the whole thing.

"No, I think this conversation is done," Tony assured him.

"Well then, you might as well make yourself useful peeling these carrots."

"Just don't ask him to chop them. For a man who can be so meticulous in the lab, he can make a real hash of things in the kitchen."

"Shut up Bruce, stop trying to embarrass me in front of my new friend." There was no bite to Tony's words though, he was too busy trying to suppress a smile at how good the situation was making him feel. It was really nice to know that if the day came that he really was ready for another relationship, Bruce would have just the kind of support he needed, teasing but ever present.

The rest of the meal prep passed with the same kind of banter, all under Steve's watchful eyes. Given that he didn't try to interfere again, Tony decided to feel touched at the overprotective hovering rather than irritated.

It was moments like these, with the banter and the hovering and Clint swooping in to try to steal a bit of carrot - and failing thanks to Loki's quick reflexes - that Tony remembered and really felt that he was part of a family. Not a conventional one by any means, but one of choice, and it was just possible that made it all the better.

The only thought that marred the whole thing was when Tony had a passing thought about how well Loki fit in with them, then had to violently quash it with the reminder this wasn't really Loki, this was Luke, a character he was playing specifically to gain enough trust to get his device made without interference.

When Tony watched, and he watched a lot, he couldn't help thinking the cheerful laughter in Loki's eyes seemed awfully genuine though, and he couldn't help wondering how much of Luke was really Loki just feeling comfortable enough behind his mask to be himself without all the showmanship.

~*~*~*~*~*~

After dinner, given he'd slept through midday, Tony decided to get a start on the parts he could make right away for the generator. 'Luke' followed him down to the lab and watched with what was clearly meant to be bored disinterest, but Tony could see through it.

Loki wandered about the lab, looking at this and that, before eventually coming to a stop behind Tony where he sat at the holo-table.

"You know, this would probably go faster if you uploaded the specs you already have to my system. Then I could just make modifications as needed rather than drafting them from scratch."

"I doubt your primitive systems could process the data in its raw form."

Tony really couldn't help rolling his eyes at that. Loki may have denounced Asgard, but he certainly hadn't denounced their technological superiority complex.

"Well can you project your specs in 3x scale? I might be able to scan them in that way, the outline at least."

Loki looked thoughtful at that and brought up his golden hologram.

Now Tony felt like he was really getting somewhere as Jarvis took visual scans and converted them into holograms on Tony's own system. The next couple of hours passed much more lively as they broke Loki's schematic down into various components and reassembled it again, with Tony making manual adjustments where the scans hadn't got it quite right. Loki even seemed a bit impressed with the results when they were done, despite himself.

After that it was back to more solitary work, as some of the materials Loki had specified weren't available on Earth and Tony needed to run the numbers to find a suitable substitute. Despite that Loki continued to hang around.

"So are you hanging around for the stellar company, or are you just avoiding Thor?"

Loki gave him a sharp look that spoke volumes, though perhaps not the ones he'd want it to. "You're working on a delicate schematic, making substitutions with sub-par materials, to create a device which my freedom and perhaps even my very life may depend upon. Had you considered that perhaps I simply do not trust you to manage the task without my supervision?"

"Considered and rejected. You wouldn't have come to me if you thought I was that incapable, you'd have just stolen the materials you needed and found a way to build the field generator yourself. Even if it meant taking a bit longer than this will."

"You seem very certain of your analysis."

"That's because I am. I was starting to get a read on you during that whole invasion debacle, and I feel like that's only improved recently. Especially since you seem a lot more stable given you've scaled back on the over the top posturing."

"It did its job."

"So you said. So?"

"Your company is not unpleasant, particularly when you aren't talking."

"Uh huh," Tony said with an amused smile. "So the company it is, and staying away from Thor is just a bonus."

"Those are your words, not mine, though that I prefer not to interact with the oaf should be obvious."

"Sitting at the very opposite end of the table did suggest that, yeah."

His response only served to exasperate Loki further. "Then why do you insist on this pointless conversation?"

"Getting further into your head." Tony grinned at him unrepentantly.

That threw Loki for only a moment before a predatory smirk graced his lips. "There are other things I'd much rather get into with you than that," he all but purred as he stalked right up to Tony's side. "It looks like your construct is finishing these calculations for you."

"He is..."

"Then we can put one of these benches to a different use." Loki gripped the front of Tony's shirt and drew him up from his seat.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing."

Loki gave him a look so innocent it couldn't be anything but fake. "I'm simply fulfilling my role as your fling."

"And I'm about to give up all this to join the Amish."

Loki ground their hips together, and Tony couldn't help a groan.

"I know what you're doing, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop you."

"Very good." Loki grinned and pushed Tony back against a bench to distract them both while Jarvis finished the calculations.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Over the next few days they spent as much time exploring each other as they did working on the generator, and Tony found truth being put to the lie as Loki fulfilled his role as Tony's rebound with vigour. There was a part of him that told Tony he shouldn't be enjoying it as much as he was.

Loki was a selfish, egotistical asshole, with daddy issues that were off the charts - rather like a caricature of himself if he hadn't had people like Pepper and Rhodey to keep him from going completely off the rails - who was a bona fide super villain as far as most of the world was concerned. You couldn't get further from what Pepper had been, and that seemed to be why it worked. It was like that first night, right before the funeral; Loki seemed to know exactly what Tony needed and never for a moment did it feel like Pepper was being replaced.

It was like comparing a Picasso to a Mustang. Both were works of art, but they were so different you'd hardly try to replace one with the other. And right now the adrenaline of the Mustang was what he needed.

Tony almost found himself regretful that the end of their liaison was near when he finished the final calibration test on the generator.

"There, the only thing left to do is put you in the chamber and see if it works."

They both stared at the device as though they weren't sure it was quite real.

"You're sure we should start with putting you in this thing and not go straight for the sceptre?" Tony asked, not for the first time since they'd started building it.

Instead of the scathing retort he'd given each time Tony had asked before, Loki contemplated the device silently for a few moments. When he eventually answered, he asked, "Stark, is that a hint of genuine concern I sense?"

He turned a teasing smirk upon Tony, who felt his stomach flip. Not in the way it always had before, anticipating how else Loki could tease him. No, this time it was a flip of dread, because that smirk didn't reach Loki's eyes as it should. Further concern wouldn't be welcome though, and Tony knew it, so instead he replied in turn.

"Only that you can't hold up your end of the bargain if breaking this link crispy fries your brain."

Loki's expression was resolute as he looked back at the device. "Rest assured, Stark, I wouldn't pursue this action if I thought it likely to fail. There is no way to know how many other links he has via that sceptre. The severing of them all most certainly will draw his attention, but one amongst many is much more likely to go unnoticed."

"Surely if he has dozens of coerced minions through this thing that's all the more reason to go for the sceptre?"

"The opportune moment, Stark. We don't yet know who those people are, where they are, or what they're doing. And for right now the Mad Titan appears willing to leave this artefact in Midgard's seemingly harmless safekeeping. Change the status quo and he may come for Midgard before we are ready."

Tony tried to think of a rebuttal for that. He knew Steve would argue for the freedom of the others caught in the sceptre's hold, but Loki was right, they had no proof freeing them now would do them any good, and it would definitely put Earth in greater danger. So with a sigh he was forced to concede Loki's point.

"Alright, when are we doing this then?" They could run it in the morning, one more night before Loki most likely left for parts unknown.

"There is no time like the present, as they say."

"What?" Tony looked at Loki in surprise, and found him looking resolute. He was going to protest, but he realised maybe Loki _needed_ to do this now, before he ended up talking himself out of it. "Right... Now it is then."

Loki released his glamour and stripped his armour down to just the linen shirt and leather trousers he wore beneath it all. Then they got Loki into the chamber and Tony began the start-up sequence.

"How are you doing in there?" Tony split his gaze between the readings and the video of Loki in the chamber.

"Well, aside from the space being somewhat claustrophobic for someone of my height. I'm certain you'd fair just fine however."

"Watch it, insulting the person controlling a few dozen reactors all around you isn't your best idea."

Loki smirked at that. "Your ego isn't anywhere that fragile. You have a great many assets other than height, and you're well aware of it."

Tony grinned at that. "Like the ones you made use of this morning, hmm?"

"I was referring to the intellect you're using at present, but those are respectable assets as well."

"Ooo, high praise from the prince." Tony chuckled to himself as he watched the readings and made a couple of adjustments. "How are you doing in there? We've hit peak field generation and the readings are looking stable."

When Loki didn't immediately respond Tony looked over at the video feed and felt his stomach drop. On Loki's face was the most raw and honest expression Tony could remember seeing outside the bedroom, and it was one of bitter disappointment.

"The connection is suppressed, but not broken."

"Well, we knew that was a possibility, that's why we made the holding rig for the sceptre. We'll give it a few more minutes just to be sure and then I'll engage the cool down sequence so we can try again."

"Yes, of c-"

There was a bang as Loki collapsed sideways with force against the wall of the chamber. It looked like he was experiencing some sort of seizure and Tony's heart was in his throat as he threw the generator into the cool down sequence without waiting a second longer.

What he really wanted was to throw the door of the chamber open so he could check on Loki with his own two hands, but there were safeties in place to prevent reactor malfunctions that prevented it, and what could Tony do anyway? If the seizure turned to violent convulsions, there was enough strength in Loki's limbs he could snap Tony's neck with a stray flail of his arm.

So resisting every urge within him, Tony stayed at the controls, monitoring the system and watching the video as the seizure seemed to end and Loki passed out. What he most certainly _didn't_ do was examine why he felt like the floor had just been pulled out from under him.

The second the door unlocked Tony was at it, leaning in to check Loki over. His breathing was regular and steady, which was a good sign.

"Loki?" Tony reached out and started lightly patting Loki's cheek to help stir him awake. "Come on princess, wake up before I have to try to haul your lanky ass out of this thing."

A hand seized his wrist. "Cease or I will part your hand from your arm." Loki opened his eyes a slit, looking like a migraine sufferer in the midst of an attack.

A relieved grin spread across Tony's face. "Threats, it can't be fatal then."

"Do shut up and keep your dramatics to yourself."

Loki groaned and put a hand to his head, making the migraine comparison look all the more apt.

"Think you can stand if I help you up out of this thing?" Tony kept his voice pitched low in deference to the pounding no doubt gripping Loki's head.

"Of course," Loki bit out, but the fact that he accepted Tony's hand to help him up out of the chamber was testament to how unsteady he felt.

Tony helped Loki over to the couch he kept in the corner of the lab for when he was so deep in a project he couldn't be bothered going upstairs to sleep. He grabbed a bottle of water and sat down beside Loki, cracking it open and offering it to the other man, who was already starting to look better.

"So any idea what happened there? Nothing unusual showed on any of the readings."

Loki's brow furrowed. "I'm not certain. One moment I was dividing my attention between examining the connection and speaking with yourself, the next you were waking me with that incessant patting."

"It was hardly incessant, you're just feeling delicate."

Loki made a derisive noise at that. "I'm hardly delicate, the headache is already receding. I'm not fragile like a human."

"Fine, fine," Tony wasn't having that argument now. "What caused the temporary short-circuit then, a safeguard against tampering with the connection maybe?"

"Perhaps..." Loki closed his eyes for a few moments, but when he opened them again a grin split his face. "Or perhaps it was the death throes of the connection as it was severed."

"It's gone? You're sure?"

Loki closed his eyes, but it wasn't long before he was opening them again, eagerly saying, "Yes! Yes it's gone!"

The delight on his face was contagious and Tony found himself grinning back.

"Well, we'll need to keep that side effect in mind when we need to use this on anyone else. Guess it really is a good thing we didn't go straight for the sceptre. There's no way he wouldn't notice a bunch of minions all collapsing like that."

"No, indeed not." Loki got up, shaking the fatigue from his limbs.

"I'll find a good place to store this generator securely here in the tower for when we need it again."

"And the sceptre."

Tony quirked a brow at that. "Not going to try to take it with you?"

"Nothing good can ever come of that infernal thing, particularly while it is still tied to the Mad Titan. I would recommend you bury it deep until such time we need it to sever the other connections. Do not be tempted by its song of power."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"For now consider my giving the sceptre into your keeping as a sign of trust toward the future of our agreement." Loki strode toward an open expanse of the lab floor he favoured for teleporting the last few days. "And the pleasure we've shared as my thanks for freeing me of that creature's hold."

"Wait a minute, how am I supposed to contact you if we find out about Thanos returning before you do?"

Loki grinned. "I'm sure you'll figure something out, or I might appear without your calling. You'll never know when I might be watching. I've decided I like you, Stark," he finished in what was an oddly ominous tone given the smile, and then was gone.

"Damn, I should have included a no teleporting during a conversation clause."

And it seemed like he'd acquired a chaotic trickster fairy-godfather. Only time would tell how that would turn out.

~*~ Fin ~*~

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally going to have Tony compare a Picasso to a Chevelle, but it was pointed out to me that while that probably really would be Tony's comparison since it's considered the pinnacle of the muscle car genre, the average reader (particularly the average non-North American reader who hasn't played nearly every Need For Speed game or the like made in the late 90s/early 00s...*shifty eyes*) wouldn't necessarily recognize it for what it was. So I went with the much more universally recognizable Mustang instead.


End file.
